OSU basketball: Beavers hope to keep 'good feeling' in Las Vegas

Colorado and Oregon State get set to tangle again.AP Photo/The Daily Camera, Cliff Grassmick

CORVALLIS – If there's an easy explanation for Oregon
State's 64-58 win at Colorado on Saturday, after losses in 14 of its first 17
conference games, it's that the Beavers played some solid basketball down the
stretch.

OSU did not commit a turnover in the final 4 minutes and 45
seconds Saturday – a big turnaround from the first meeting in Corvallis.

In that 72-68 loss to the Buffaloes a month ago, the Beavers
had a seven-point lead before turning the ball over 10 times in a nine-minute
stretch late in the second half.

"Focus,'' senior Joe Burton said. "We just took control. It
felt good, a good feeling. Hopefully we'll do more of that in the tournament.''

And it came in front of a much bigger crowd (10,105) than
the Beavers will likely see when they open the Pac-12 Tournament at 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday against the same Buffaloes.

"When we got in trouble, we knew what to do, we knew when to
call timeouts, we made the extra pass to guys, made our foul shots,'' OSU coach
Craig Robinson said. "So all those things that didn't take place in the games
we lost by four points or less took place in that game – on the road, fatigued
by the altitude.''

Did the Beavers figure things out, in the final
regular-season game?

"This should be a nice blueprint for how you win close games
on the road,'' Robinson said. "It was nice to be able to do that on the road,
at altitude, in a game where a team was actually playing for something,'' Robinson
said. "That gives us a lot of confidence.''

Burton's wheels: The win also came after an 18-point loss to
Utah. Among other worries, Burton seemed to have no mobility – and faced
double-teams, too.

"Rock it till the wheels fall off,'' Burton said when asked
how he's holding up physically before getting his knees rubbed down and practicing
briefly Monday.

"He is absolutely on his last leg, literally and
figuratively,'' Robinson said of Burton. "I thought Joe was just kind of worn
down. The altitude affects bigger people.

He's had years of basketball on those knees, and this has
been a long season. But he summoned up the courage to be better the next game.
He sure snapped right back on Saturday.''

After managing just one point and four rebounds at Utah,
Burton had his fifth double double of the season (10 points, 10 rebounds) at
Boulder.

If the Beavers can't beat Colorado again on Wednesday in Las
Vegas, it just might be Burton's final game in an OSU uniform.

"If it is, it is – it is what it is,'' Burton said.

Roberson might play: Colorado forward Andre Roberson, the
Pac-12 defensive player of the year and the nation's leading rebounder, missed
the Oregon and Oregon State games with a viral infection but could play
Wednesday.

Robinson said the Beavers prepared for Roberson even after
he sat out against the Ducks.

"It will be a different kind of game,'' said Robinson about
the facing the Buffaloes with Roberson.

The Beavers have out-rebounded Colorado by a total of 15 in
the two regular-season games. Roberson had 10 rebounds in the first meeting.